The Crimson Wind
"Is there still an opening for a messenger to the sand village?" The white eyed Hyuga boy stood in the Hokage's office looking to request a mission that would allow him to see his lover, the leader of Sunagakure. "You sure have been asking to go out to that place often Neji," the 5th hokage, a buxom blonde woman of noticeably short temper sighed. She didn't even bother to ask the boy's reasons knowing she'd never be given an answer even if she demanded one. "But since you asked I have no reason to refuse you. I even give you permission to spend a little longer than you usually do over there." Neji, a noticeably handsome young man of 18 years of age, humbly bowed to his village leader. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."
So the boy set off with the documents he'd been assigned to give to the Kazekage, he smiled to himself as he thought of handsome redhead who would be giving him an extremely warm welcome, the long trips there and back where definitely worth it. Of course he'd fallen for Gaara long before he was ever considered for the position of Kazekage.
Clad in ebony, the frail minded, emotionless embodiment of Neji's desires had snared his heart in a single gaze. Loving Gaara was dangerous; there was no doubt about that, however that risk drove the levels of passion between them to great heights. Every time he was with him it was like a rush of adrenaline, knowing that Gaara could snap and take his life at any moment, letting him run a razor sharp blade over his skin, gashing him deep and having the demon's wonderfully skilled tongue lap up the hot crimson liquid he spilt.
While he was lucky to have the lover he desired, Neji wished that he wasn't tied down to his village, before Gaara became Kazekage things were much easier for the two of them since Gaara could travel to the leaf village on missions and thus be able to see Neji more often. He didn't mind requesting missions to Sunagakure, but it was becoming embarrassing lately, he knew the Hokage thought there was something going on between him and Gaara; Neji wanted to keep his private life private, he was about to go about requesting missions in the feverish way Naruto did, making the fact that he had a relationship with Sasuke almost annoyingly obvious. He envied the fact that most couples he knew had roomed together, were on the same team, or at least living in the same village. If only there was someway they could do that.
Gaara gazed out at the seemingly endless village from the comfort of his balcony: it had only been a year and half since the Akatsuki had been defeated and peace had been restored to the world, the Hidden Leaf Village had been struck the hardest and was still trying to rebuild itself from the rubble Pein had turned it into. That meant that most of the missions handed out would be devoted to its reconstruction, and sand had been sending it's ninjas over there to help. But Gaara was no longer a mere ninja, he was now Kazekage and couldn't go out on missions in the casual way he had before, which meant he was hardly ever able to see Neji, undoubtingly putting strain on their relationship. Gaara was convinced that the only reason it had survived was due to the fact that they were both so heavily influenced Naruto's devotion to Sasuke and that the Fox Boy didn't even let his betrayal strain their love at all. If Naruto and Sasuke could make it through so could they.
"May I come in?" The Goth boy heard his brother's voice call from outside his office, "You may." Kankuro smiled knowing the news he had to give would surely bring rise to his sibling's spirits, "I know it's hard for you but brighten up a bit, I've received news that Neji Hyuga is going to be delivering the Hokage's documents to you." Kankuro was one of the three, well four, people who knew about the matter of their relationship; the others were his sister Temari, who had probed the information out of Kankuro, Naruto, who was the only one Gaara, had told directly aside from Kankuro, Sasuke knew only due to Naruto telling him but didn't seem to care much.
"When do think he'll be arriving here?" Gaara asked promptly, keeping his emotions held firmly in check. "Well it takes an average of three days for a ninja to travel from Leaf to Sand," Kankuro paused to gaze at his younger brother, who had his face set towards the window away from him to hide any facial expressions he might have release. "But Neji is no ordinary ninja..." Gaara said slowly, wisps of admiration staining the usual blank state of his voice. "That's certainly right, he'll probably take a lot less time to get here than that." Kankuro smiled reassuringly at the young Kazekage. "Be sure to prepare for his arrival. Expect him to be staying longer than usual." Kankuro's ears twitched upon hearing the last sentence, was Gaara planning something?
"Hokage-sama have you by any chance seen Neji around here?" Tenten asked shifting her gaze from side to side as she entered Tsunade's office. "Well no. He was here the other day requesting a mission to Sunagakure; he's probably half way there by now." The bun haired girl sighed, "Again? That's not fair when we're stuck in the village working on repair missions and such. Why does he keep wanting to go there so badly any way?" The blonde seated behind the desk signalled for the girl standing in front of in to come closer. "I'm starting to get suspicious too. Remember when Naruto kept on barging on about getting to go on missions related to Sasuke?" Tenten nodded. "Then along the way it was revealed that he and Sasuke had a romantic relationship; I'm beginning to think it might be the same kind of thing with Neji and Gaara-sama." The brunette gasped, shocked at the prospect of Neji having that kind of relationship with someone, let alone the Kazekage. "B-but that seems so strange, those two in a relationship? They just don't seem like the types." Tsunade smiled and sank back into her chair, "Let's have a bet; if it does turn out that those two have being hooking up on the sly, I get half your months wages." Tenten's eyes shone, "And if I win, if Gaara and Neji aren't doing that?" The Hokage flashed a grin, "You get to live here for a month, with me serving you." Tenten nodded, signalling that the bet was on.